Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-07
and the federal government in the valley
of the Shenandoah,

buC 4cuCIdl SONtIuuCAk III VIC So1iOJ
of the Shenandoah.
In this country, and where q great
many Of our people know what the hor-
rors of this guerrilla warfare meant, the
charge that either Quantrell or any other
guerrilla, from the lowest to the highest,
ever killed a woman or child is simply
s charge made by fool or liar. What
ever else happened on either side, one
thing can be truthfuily said to the glory
of all-femsIe helplessDess was tenderly
respected, and female purity held as sa-
cred as the cause for which the contend
ing forces fought. Woe unto the man,
no matter in what army, who ever at
| tempted an outrage. Once, and once
only, in QuaRtrell's career, bush-hider
did, and the guerrlilas hunted him to his
death.
1t depends upon what constitutes MUIR
der whether Quantrell was a murderer or
not. He fought under black fisg, it is
true. but have not ali guerrilles in all
lands since the worlds history? Even If
they had not, the necessity for him to do
so was imperative. He was outlawed by
the federal authorities. Not man OF his
was ever known to escape death st the
hands of his csptors. AS those who
fought him did, so did he. Il Was 6
mutual understanding, and the killing
went on.
We simply narrate, and by so doing
strive to vindeate the truth Of history
There was condition of things peculiar
| to the border between Missouri and
Kansas that the country does not under
stand and seems not to care to under
stand. So hot were the passions of men,
so fierce were the conflicts, so number
less were the killings, SO many
were the personal wrongs tC
ayepge. So desperate had become the
strife on all sides that to be known either
as southern or union man was to bring
death ct the hands of whichever force a.
the time was uppermost Entire neigh
bornoods were depopulated; for miles
and miles there were no houses, Kansas
rslded Missouri and Missouri raided
Kansas; the guerrillss and the militia
butchered one another; the jayhaWkers
and guerrill8s fought backward and for
ward; regular troops came often upon the
scene to seek out QuanGrell and make 8
speedy finish of him. They saw him, felt
him, fought him, surrounded him, and 10
| he was not there. One commander was
known to stop short in his hunt and ex-
claim: "Ot what use to go further? He
is the DEVIL"
After storm has been gathering for
generations. of what use to condemn the
thunderboIt? Quantrell was simply the
outgrowth, or, rather, the creation Of u
single phase OF the civil war that was
desperate beyond all the balance aad
more bloody and ferocious. He found
events prepared for him, and he accepted
his destiny. All In all, ne was the great
est guerrilla who ever lived on earth. One
of these days history will deal with him
as he was and as he strove to be-a
guerrilla chieftain who was to the Kansas
and Missouri border what Ell Enpecin-
ado, what Fra Dlavolo, what Nina and
what Ell Topete were to Spain in her life
and death struggle with Napoleon,
What Rodriguez, what Cortina, what
Flores, and what Tomsso were to Mexico
when the French had her by the throat,
we'll nigh strepgled and bleeding at ever
pore. What Francis Marion was to
South Csrolins-qusljfied, of course, by
time and circumsEances-When Tarl9ton's
Dragons harried all the country side,
sparing nothing that fought for the patriot
cause, burning, plundering and working
their will On ali who were too old or toe
feeble to go to war.
Meantime, Quantrell will still be to the
dime novels, and to dime novel writers,
like the Canal Dover fellow, the same
bloody monster who murdered women
and children Unfortunately.